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Baaaasically have dropped off the face of the Earth with this blog, sooooorrry! Don’t know WHERE all my free time has gone (taking care of three kids, ohhh). Meant to do this post about a month ago, oops, so here we go finally :)

We took our family photos with Michell Strizhius back in October when it was still so beautiful out! Missing that perfect fall weather right now. But! Excited to share these now. We went downtown again this year for our photos. I love all of the different feels you can have throughout the streets. We did a little bit of trees look along the bike trail, then a little bit of neat walls and buildings around 8th and Railroad. Loved all the different looks!

It was definitely harder wrangling three kids this year. We didn’t have enough hands to keep our kids by our sides and Leo’s hands out of his mouth! But, those photos are some of my favorites, remembering the behind the scenes makes me chuckle! Anyways, here are some of my favorites! Ivy absolutely kills me with her poses! The best.

Still wild seeing our family of 5! Next year’s photos Faye will be WALKING! EEEP! How are we ever going to wrangle them all then?! :)

Napa has always been on my bucket list! Sipping on tons of delicious wines, gazing at hillsides of acres and acres of green vineyards, eating incredible food, I mean, I really just needed to stop at wine, because… WINE. Favorite. Neither John nor I had ever been, so we were anxious for a getaway, and a huge plus to meet up with my sister Jillian and her husband Brian out there!

John and I decided to fly out a day early to get a 24 hour glimpse of San Francisco, and we did it up right! We played total tourists and took the tour bus around for the day and hit all the hot spots, Fisherman’s Wharf, Lombard Street, Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Union Square, and tons more! The bus was so much fun because you could hop on and off, which we took advantage of to get some pics and to eat oysters and scrumptious seafood and drink along the way. I’m so glad we did this because we were able to see almost all of San Francisco in one day!

The next day, we met Jillian and Brian and we headed north to Napa! I couldn’t wait to see the acres and acres of vineyards! Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The next four days of our trip in Napa were cloudy and rainy! It ruined our views but did not ruin our fun! And when the rain stopped, the fog was actually really beautiful across the land.

We stayed at the quaintest bed and breakfast in Yountville called the Oleander House. It was sooo nice getting a delicious hot breakfast in the morning before we headed out all day. That was our first time doing a B&B and I LOVED it!

Now onto the WINE! We went to about 3-5 per day, whew, so way too many to go through, but I’ll definitely hit on my favorites!

Our first stop was at the Truchard Vineyard, and it ended up as one of my FAVORITES! We really started with a bang! They own over 400 acres of land and have been in the business for over a century. In fact, they are grape suppliers for a ton of well known wines. Truchard is a very small family owned operation and we felt like we were part of the family right from the beginning! They brought us through the vineyard and into their wine cave where they store all of their wine barrels that was built right into the hillside, so neat! Sipping wine in that cave was proooolly the coolest thing ever and every wine was soooo amazing! Case of this, case of that… swipe it! :)

After that amazing first stop, I really didn’t think it could get better, but that was just the beginning! Another favorite was Failla Wines, an old 1930’s farmhouse turned into the tasting room. So cozy in there!

Next, we headed up Howell Mountain to Cade Winery. This is where I was really bummed about the fog because we were on top of the mountain and would have been able to see the whole valley, buuuut no, shucks! : / Next time, hehe. Anyways! Cade had some serious architecture going on! Totally modern and known for its use of renewable resources, very environmentally efficient. Oh, and, DELICIOUS WINES.

Another favorite winery was Schweiger Vineyards, up Spring Mountain. This view was finally pretty clear and it was soo beautiful!

Of course, a trip to Napa wouldn’t be complete without some castles and chateaus! We did the touristy thing a little bit and toured Castello di Amorosa, a 13th century inspired Tuscan castle and winery. It was stunning and absolutely incredible inside! And the outside vineyard wasn’t too shabby either! Such pretty views! A bit too touristy for us though, we like the small intimate family run wineries that pour us extra wine! ;)

We also toured and had a tasting at Inglenook, an 1887 French chateau. This was a favorite! The chateau was gorgeous, the wines were to die for, and we got to sit in an old parlour room with a cheese pairing while sipping wines. Our tour guide with the curly mustache was soooo fabulous!

Lastly, a trip to Napa would NOT be complete without food! For dinner, we ate at Red Wood, Bistro Jeanty, and Ad Hoc, and while all three are making me salivate right now just thinking about them, I LOVED Ad Hoc! It has a daily-changing four-course menu featuring classic American dishes that are all served family-style. Some serious casual comfort of home right in the restaurant! Each course was IN-credible and we were soooo full by the end! One of those meals where you reaaaally couldn’t stop eating it was that good!

I’d say we had a pretty spectacular first trip to Napa! I’m already so excited to go back sometime! Definitely could see this being another future trip, so many different wineries to see! But it was a good start and always nice to get a little vacay with the hubs :) And now our wine cellar is practically FULL!! Whoop whoop! Not for long though… haha! Until next time Napa!

Vacation. Ahhhh. I relax just saying the word. And this vacation was perfect. Relaxing and fun in the most gorgeous setting I’ve ever seen. The BAHAMAS.

John and I booked this trip about three weeks ago after talking about it for months! We usually do a ski trip but this time we wanted HOT weather! I couldn’t wait to see some turquoise water and white sandy beaches. I’ve only ever been to Tulum Mexico so I am a tad sheltered!

(Abundance of pictures coming up. Sorry! I loved them all! It’s just so beautiful there!)

We stayed at the Sandals Royal Bahamian right in Nassau, Bahamas. It was a reaaaaally pretty all-inclusive with ten restaurants and seven pools, and even it’s own separate island! THAT was the best part! Absolutely gorgeous. I love all-inclusives. You don’t even have to THINK! And I am a fan of trying foods so I order just about everything on the menu! ;) I ate a lot of seafood. YUM.

The best restaurant was Gordon’s on the Pier. It was FABULOUS. We ate there our last night and definitely savored the romantic setting with a few glasses of wine and a delicious grouper dinner.

Two of the days we spent time on the island. You took a boat over there and it was very private and so gorgeous. We got to snorkel in the water and we saw sea turtles and tons of fish around the coral reef! I LOVE to snorkel!

Here are some more pictures from the island

Fruity frozen cocktail #101 ;)

And not to mention those sunsets tho… WHOA.

One of the days was not too great of weather, so we headed to downtown Nassau and the Fish Fry to see the town. I got my coconut drink and the best piña colada I’ve ever had with REAL coconut that I scooped out myself! That was cool :) Downtown Bahamas has a TON of jewelry stores and a neat market with lots of homemade gifts and decor. People are really talented down there!

Overall it was AMAZING. Difficult to leave the kids, but very very nice to have a little getaway and some alone time with the hubs. That was much needed! Plus the SUN!! Hallelujah!

I missed Ivy and Leo so much! But the grandparents sure had some quality time with the kids. I was so happy to see them and get them in my arms again! Leo didn’t take the bottle the whole time we were gone (YIKES!!) Even though he took it for John the whole weekend two weekends ago, what the heck! So that was nerve-racking, but thank goodness he’s good at feeding himself with baby-led weaning, so he survived! He was certainly ravenous for the boob when I got home though! ;)

Ivy even got to go to a Princess Ball with my friend Shannon. She LOVED to see all of the Princesses and gave lots of hugs! SWOON! I was kind of jealous I didn’t get to be there to see her all giddy!! : /

This past weekend we had a very special celebration, my sister Jillian’s BABY SHOWER! We are THRILLED for baby Fleming and cannot WAIT for her arrival, due September 16! John and I and Ivy and Leo all hopped on a plane and flew to Indianapolis. The flight went very well, both ways, thankfully, and we arrived in Indy just in time for a fab bbq with all of our family. My aunt Teresa from California came, my sister Catheryn from Portland, and my Mom all made the trip for the celebration.

Jillian and our Mama

Jillian and her husband Brian, the ecstatic father-to-be!

Saturday was the shower, and I got to host it along with one of Jillian’s best friends Georgianne and my other sister Catheryn. This was the floral invite we used, so gorgeous! We put together a wonderful shower for her and all of Jillian’s best friends and family were there to celebrate. Happy Shower Jillian!

The guests played bingo (cards from this Etsy shop) while she opened presents, and played b-a-b-y s-h-o-w-e-r acronym which was a ton of fun! Each bag, spelling baby shower, had a corresponding gift and the guests had to guess what item was in each bag. Loved it!

And our babies were very well taken care of by Auntie Teresa and Grandma Caleen while I hosted :) xoxo, lots of snuggles!

The shower was a big success and Jillian has the BEST of friends that gave her some amazing gifts. Great shower for sure! I was jealous of the Solly swaddles she received! I want them!

That evening we went to an event called Symphony on the Prairie and it was AMAZING. The music was a cover band for “Genesis,” Phil Collins’ old band. It was fabulous music, an amazing evening, delicious food, and we even had a sunset ride in a hot air balloon!

Leo and his double chin, SMOOCH

On Sunday, it was John’s 36th BIRTHDAY! Us ladies went out for brunch while the guys hung out before everyone flew back home. We went to a fabulous farm to table restaurant called Traderspoint Creamery.

After brunch, John decided to do something “family friendly,” which is amazing that he’s come so far! When I met him all he had was beer and ketchup in his fridge, so this previous bachelor is accepting his family fate! :) Ha! So we hit up the Indianapolis Zoo, I LOVE ZOOS! Very fun!

Happy 36th Birthday Johnny!! We love you!

And next time we visit, this adorable nursery will be filled with a beautiful baby! So close Jillian!

Our family did a little mini maternity and family photo sesh with Anne from The Photography Shoppe (website here facebook here) on Mother’s Day. It was raining and started storming at the end, but we made it through the session! Whew! I was 34.5 weeks pregnant at the time, so I had a pretty good bump going :) I was happy to get some more maternity photos and ALWAYS nice to add some family pics in there too. Check ’em out! And thank you Anne, we love the pictures!